You may not want to live out of a backpack but learning to make the most of a few things when you don’t have access to ever gadget under the Sun will go a long ways. Reduce your kitchen to one pot, one pan ( or better, one all purpose cooking container ), one set of knife, fork, spoon, bowl (this will also be your plate). Learn to have one towel; clean, dry and reuse. If you need a variety of clothes for work that’s fine, but reduce your casual clothes to only one pair of shoes and two or three outfits. Don’t buy anything except food and maybe a book for one month. If you can’t live like this for a month, you sure can’t live like this for a year or longer. A couple of things are at play here. First, you are more flexible in travel when you are not weighed down by the presence of stuff. Also, access to very simple and common goods in the US is not necessarily the norm elsewhere; even if they have it, it may be cost prohibitive.

Work remote

Start moving toward working remote. This is either getting your current job to let you work remotely or creating an independent work environment through freelancing or starting your own work anywhere business. You can’t be location independent if you can’t make a living from almost anywhere.

Save

This goes with minimize. Learn to save. Getting stuck somewhere because you don’t have the money to get out sucks, believe me I know. Once you minimize, you will be surprised on how little you actually need to live. Then when you have a good bit of savings, you can splurge on something nice for yourself as long as it doesn’t add to your stuff.
Learn to cook

Build a Support System

Family and friends that can help you out if needed while you are finding a place to settle for a bit or send you a care package for something you need but isn’t available where you are is great. But, you also need to get to know a manager at your bank in case you need to deal with something while you are away; this way you have someone who knows your face and voice and will be more incline to help. Also, have an expat mailing service set you up with a “permanent address” that looks like something your bank and others require.

Be Adventurous

This can be anything from exploring side streets and alleys in your neighborhood to taking an unplanned trip. Learning to be flexible and adapt to dynamic uncontrollable situation in unfamiliar locations that would cause most people to panic is a must. After a few “hops” in LI lifestyle these kinds of things will seem normal, but at first they will be a bit unnerving at times. Make things easier on yourself by starting your training for coping with these situations BEFORE you go whole hog.

If you find that any of the above items is too much or too hard, being location independent may not be for you. That’s ok, it isn’t for everyone. This is a lifestyle based on continual change. Change is stressful. I would say I do change better than most people and I actual start to freak out when things are the same for too long; and sometimes I get burned out on living as an expat, the roller-coaster of freelancing, and sometimes I just want to go into a bookstore and buy a great new book in my language. It may seem small, but it can be the thing that really brings you down at times.